Hematuria
 

I went to my doc yesterday for a routine pelvic and the doctor is scheduling two follow up appointments to investigate blood in my urine - aka - hematuria. She seemed very concerned. I did some research when I got home and here's what I found on UrologyChannel.com....

"Hematuria is the presence of blood, specifically red blood cells, in the urine. Whether the blood is visible only under a microscope or visible to the naked eye, hematuria is a sign that something is causing bleeding in the genitourinary tract: the kidneys, the tubes that carry urine from the kidneys to the bladder (ureters), the prostate gland (in men), the bladder, or the tube that carries urine from the bladder out of the body (urethra)."

I am currently training for the Breast Cancer 3-Day 60 mile walk and had completed an 11 mile training walk less than 24 hours before my doctor's appointment. With that in mind, I came across this little blurb on the UrologyChannel.com....

"Joggers hematuria results from repeated jarring of the bladder during jogging or long-distance running."

Although my doctor didn't mention this as a possible cause, I am thinking that my 11 mile walk is what caused the blood in my urine. Have any of you runners or long-distance walkers experienced this before? Should I be worried?

I have 2.5 more months of rigorous training ahead of me. I have to walk 130+ training miles in August, 170+ training miles in September, and the 60 mile walk is in October. I am wondering if this is a non-issue or if I should be concerned. I am definitely going to follow up with my doctor, but I am going to rest for 48 hours before giving urine samples to see if that makes a difference.

How about a bladder infection or residual vaginal drainage after a period?

Every time I've had this, it's been from a bladder infection, the dreaded UTI!

I don't think it's a bladder infection. Here are the symptoms of a bladder infection and I have none of these symptoms...

Pain or burning during urination (called dysuria).
Abdominal pain in the area overlying the bladder.
Pressing need to urinate immediately, as soon as any urine collects in the bladder (called urgency).
Need to urinate extremely frequently (called frequency).
Passage of small amounts of urine at a time.
Need to get up from sleep to urinate (called nocturia).
Low back or flank pain.
Cloudy urine.
Bad-smelling urine.

I don't have any of these symptoms, so I'm not convinced it's a bladder infection.

We'll see if my break from exercise will result in a normal sample w/o blood.

It's required to investigate blood in the urine to rule out anything potentially harmful and your doctor probably didn't want to say anything until she could say for sure.

I have heard of a few people having hematuria from intense runs before though. Taking it easy is probably a good idea.